What exactly is wide-format? And what's the difference between wide-format and large-format? Where does grand-format come into the greater scheme of things, and how about superwide-format?

Since the early days of ink-jet for the display industry there's been a clutch of descriptions which have made their way to the front line, with each being determined to outclass, or outsize, the next. People accustomed to screen-printing and the bigger offset presses have tended to accept 'large' but, as digital has consolidated itself as a mainstream presence, 'wide-format' seems to sum up the fact that a machine can be identified easily by its dimensional width. But this is made a bit more confusing by a roll-fed printer's total job area only being determined by the length of the material or by the limitations of the software being used to create the graphic.

With flat-bed printers, again the restrictions are governed by the physical practicalities of feeding the rigid substrate in one end and having room to manoeuvre it at both ends of the printer. And sheet materials above a certain size have to be stored and shipped which, again, brings common-sense logistics into play.

When I'm asked to comment on superwide-format printers, my thoughts are that this collective applies to the family of machines which sits in the 5m arena. After all, they're wider than wide-format but, in the general sense of the word, they might not be grand; the true definitions of this particular word boil down to magnificent, imposing and high ranking. And none of these is a description which, to my mind, really applies to a piece of printing equipment even if it were to be adorned with gold-plated controls.

So, if we place 5m machines into the superwide-format fold, and forget about grand-format, where does wide-format come into the picture? As a generalisation which has fallen into daily use during the past few years, the machines worthy of this title can range from A1 or around 600mm (that's 24" in old money) up to 3.5m in width.

Within these parameters there are significant mileposts, with 1.6m, 2m, 2.5m and 3.2m being common sizes along that route, although there are others which sit in between. All these are happy to be given the wide-format moniker, and users tend to understand and accept this description. Bundling sizes and standardising them also simplifies web searches and base descriptions when researching what to buy next.

One thing's certain. No-one will ever be in total agreement about the use of wide, large, grand and superwide in our terminology. But, at the end of the day, surely the machine's capabilities are of far greater importance than its nomenclature.